Anger Foot Review — Ass-Kicking Muppets

Anger Foot begins by briefly and thoroughly setting up the premise of Shit City, An appropriately named metropolis where the only law is a crime. The city is ruled by vicious, nasty, and generally environmentally unconscious gangs, all of who report to the city’s Crime Minister. All criminals fall under the heel of this seemingly elected official (judging by all of the VOTE CRIME posters left around the city.) All but one, that is: The titularly appropriate Anger Foot.

Anger Foot is probably the biggest treat to come across my review list in a long time.

Anger Foot is simply minding his own business one day, kicking people like he normally does, when his collection of preem sneakers is stolen by the Violence Gang, kicking off (see what I did there?) an explosive, violent, and exceptionally stylish crusade to get them sneaks back.

Anger Foot is a phenomenally unique title, standing out for its sheer ridiculous and absolutely jam-packed style. The game was developed by the studio Free Lives, who also made Terra Nil (the last game I would expect to have the same developer, given how this game looks) and Broforce (yeah, that one makes a bit more sense.) Given the track record of titles that I’m exceptionally impressed by, you might have also already guessed that this one is published by Devolver Digital, who I find the need to praise in every review I do of theirs because they just keep publishing exceptionally interesting indie games and I never want to see them stop.

Anger Foot plays a bit like Hotline Miami and a lot like Mullet Madjack, another indie game I’ve reviewed this year, coming together to feel like a lovechild of theirs raised in a single-parent home and developing an addiction to cigarettes at thirteen.

Your typical level in Anger Foot can be cleared in under a minute, but if you’re not careful, you’ll die just as fast, with most enemies clearing our barefooted gangster in one or two hits. The levels are not randomized, so each time you die and are forced to restart, or should you simply choose to replay a level, all of the rooms and enemy placements will be the same.

This means that Anger Foot requires a bit of reflexes and a lot of memorization in order to effectively clear a level. Dying sets you back to the start, and the level is short, so you’re expected to try to learn enemy placement to make your further attempts a little easier. Once you’ve played a level a few times, you can go back with the knowledge of which door to kick to get a free kill on room entry or where the placement of explosive barrels is to take out a whole room of armed goons.

That’s how Anger Foot plays, by the way. You begin each level with different gear, sometimes with a weapon and sometimes not, and proceed through a series of rooms with each one hidden behind a door. You kick open doors, kick down enemies, and use short-lasting weapon pickups to dispatch the gangsters who stole your kicks, adopting different approaches to handle the different types of enemies ahead.

Kick a door into someone to take them out on entry. Throw your empty gun to stun a goon, kick them to death, and then steal his pistol to shoot his friends. Kick a grenade back into the face of the thrower and watch him explode. There are hardly any wrong answers in Anger Foot.

Far more than just a one-time playable campaign, Anger Foot challenges you to replay levels, trying to get the perfect score by completing the level fast and finishing some side objectives as you do. Little goals like “get 18 headshots” or “beat the mission within x time frame” give you plenty of reasons to replay each level, and makes doing so feel adequately challenging, without making the game feel like an impossible series of chores. After all, the entire thing is built around enjoying the simple, fun, yet expressive mechanics.

Nothing challenges you to speedrun a level quite like the soundtrack, however. The game’s great score of gritty beats makes you want to keep the carnage up by droning out if you move too slow and picking back up again when you engage in the carnage, making you want to fight and keep moving as you bob your head to the beat.

All of that being said, there is probably nothing more noteworthy about Anger Foot than its style and setting.

Anger Foot is a cool, disgusting, cartoonish take on the urban jungle. It’s gross, grimy, weird, and downright silly, feeling like someone introduced the cast of The Muppets to methamphetamine. The ass-kicking gameplay is brilliantly intertwined with strange and hilarious environmental storytelling, weird-ass and intriguing characters, and just SO MUCH disgusting goodness that makes you want to keep playing just to see more and more of it.

I am obsessed with the look and feel of Anger Foot and its characters. I know every artist has their inspiration, so I’m calling readers to please comment below if you know of any other media with the same or similar look and feel as Anger Foot. I need it in my life.

Anger Foot is a gem. It’s got a superbly unique setting, and it feels simple and creative gameplay that gets your blood running, as well as a fantastic score to wrap it all up. That’s really all there is to say about Anger Foot. It’s great, fun, and one of my new favorites, but I know for a fact that nothing I could say could sell you on the game quite like screenshots from the game itself.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Anger Foot is available on Steam and GoG.